Today’s post is brought to you by the letter G

Big G, little g
what begins with G?

Godzilla, General Conference, Groceries
G, g, g!

Godzilla
Bipedalism a’ here we go! Caleb took his first step a few Sundays back (bet you guess who he walked to, it begins with a ‘d’ and ends with an ‘addy’), and now he is *strolling across the kitchen, and taking treks from the couch to the desk. And as he does it he sounds like this. The wide strides, the clumsiness, the destruction…
Godzilla was a toddler, people.

*okay, more like wobbling

General Conference
It’s Wednesday and the text of the talks are still not up, which is odd because I’ve given a talk right after Conference before on a recent Conference talk [on the spur of the moment (story of my life)] and they are usually up pretty soon afterwards.
I guess this means I’ll have to trifle through my notes and my mommy brain now and dish you some one-liners later.
Okay. Elder Hales’ talk was grand. Yes, grand. He covered several topics that Michael and I have been discussing since we moved into our house last November. I posted this on Facebook as my status last week and I’ll post it here: Angela thinks that this country needs a recession/depression to get our priorities straight.
In my opinion, entirely separate from Elder Hales’ talk, I think we, as a country, have become a people who do not plan. We lack forethought. And I think tough economic times turn out a different caliber of people. Think of your grandparents, or great grandparents. Think of the house they lived it, think of the meals they ate or recipes they left behind, think of the ways their family spent time together. Now think of your house, what’s in the pantry, and the ways your family spends time together. How different are they?
I’ve mentioned to Mike before that I do not think it is coincidence that President Monson was called to be the prophet during this time, as Elder Hales mentioned, he [Pres. Monson] learned service in his youth during the Great Depression and as he served the widows of his wards.
This leads me into my next topic in a round-about-way…

Groceries
With the economy the way it’s going, here’s some grocery tips from my own kitchen, some I’m sure you’ve already heard, but they work!
*Plan a menu. I do a monthly menu, but weekly works too. I usually plan 13-15 dinners (on average each meal I cook lasts two days of eating—that means some meals are more bounteous than others), three types of breakfast, sack lunches for Mike, weekend lunches, FHE refreshments and snacks. Yeah. I’m pretty OCD.
Here’s our dinner plan for May: 13 meals
Roast and mashed potatoes with gravy (1)
Italian sub with cheesy broccoli side (2, Mike’s favorite)
Tortas with Spanish rice side (1)
Pizza with salad side (2)
Stuffed bell peppers with salad side (1)
Baked Alfredo with lazy breadsticks (4, now, we typically eat this twice or thrice a month, but I have one backup that we use for compassionate service or an ‘easy’ meal)
Spinach Pesto with salad side (1)
BLT with potato salad and BBQ beans (1)
Beef and barley soup with cornbread (1)

*Keep receipts. By doing this you can figure out how much each meal costs to make. For example, Baked Alfredo with Lazy Breadsticks (aka New England hotdog buns baked/broiled with a homemade garlic spread) costs $5. And lasts three days with our family of three.
* Skimp on meat. Ever heard of Meatless Mondays? Not a bad idea. And when you do eat meat, freeze some for later and sub in some more veggies or filling in the recipe… which brings me to my next tip…
* Portions. I’ll buy one roast a month and get at least five meals out of it. How? After making it, I separate the roast into five portions and I freeze the portions to use later in the month. When I want to use it I pull out a freezer bag of roast and make Beef and Broccoli with rice, Beef Burritos, Italian Subs, Stroganoff, or Tortas (mMmMmMm… tortas… sorry, I don’t have a link for that one yet, I’ll post one soon).
* Do some research. I don’t buy anything that I can’t dice three ways. What I mean is… well, look at my May dinner menu, break it down to its essential ingredients and you have: beef, broccoli, onions, bell peppers and potatoes, over and over again. And these ingredients are used throughout the month but in different ways. There are a lot of books out there with plenty of cheap, easy recipes that revolve around ingredients that your family will enjoy and that you can also stretch.
Here are two books that are amazing:
Cheap. Fast. Good!
Miserly Meals

Check them out at your local library.

The only recent picture you'll see of me, where I look somewhat decent. Of coure, Caleb on the other hand... well...
This concludes today’s broadcast.